LaPoile man shot seabird eating large trout

Monford Organ poses with the merganser he shot in North Bay and the saltwater trout the bird consumed moments before. Yvonne Bond Organ

LAPOILE, NL – A LaPoile hunter scored two meals with one shot when he brought down a common merganser last week in North Bay.

The merganser is not much larger the fish it consumed. Yvonne Bond Organ

Monford Organ had spotted a small flock while hunting. While a couple of the birds took flight, one struggled to lift off. Assuming it was injured, Organ shot the bird, only to discover it had just consumed a 13-inch saltwater trout and was simply too heavy to fly.

“Glutted is the word he used,” said his wife Yvonne Bond Organ by phone from their home in LaPoile. “The bird didn’t have a chance to digest it and couldn’t fly away like the others.”

Yvonne rushed home to grab a few photos for Facebook. By the time she got home Monford had already plucked the seabird and extracted the trout. Yvonne says her husband’s lucky aim means she will get to enjoy two of her favorite meals.

“The word poaching gets thrown out there,” said Yvonne, who confirmed that Monford is a licensed hunter, “but there’s an awful lot of animals around eating in the same food chain as us and enjoying the same things as we do.”